ElCap Report 6/07/10

ElCap Report 6/07/10

By Tom Evans

Yo… Oh My!! Such fine days now…. such a high river now… such nice shots now!! The crowds departed and we have the place to ourselves now. The Bridge was quiet most of the day, a welcomed relief for this writer.

High clouds drifted across a cobalt blue sky, in an endless procession, all day long. I have a lot to report and pictures to work so I will get right to it.

Today’s ElCap Report…written just for you…unique in all the world!

Zodiac: The worst dressed team on the wall didn’t show up today but left lines fixed to the top of 4. I was mistaken and apologize to my Japanese readers for the comments about this team being Japanese. In fact, they are Koreans… sad but true… in spite of all the work I put in on the Korean teams to get them into the modern world of big wall clothing style. Now, this affront to all of my instructions…. Jesus, what is the world coming to?!

Anyway, I did see a party do the first pitch, not Koreans… dressed BTW, in a sensational red shirts. The Team Extreme climbers from the School in Seoul arrived today, bringing some nice gifts for the old man! I had a talk with their fearless leader, KYoung Han, who climbed LA last year, and informed him of the stain in the pants of Korean rock climbing that this Zodiac team has produced and he assured me he would have a chat with the offenders! He mentioned something about the “Death of a thousand cuts“…. I left it in his hands. The Team is here to do New Dawn and Lost in America.

Trip: The orange shirted solo climber, Justin Brockman, made progress up the 5th and was cleaning when I left early for a shower at the pool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting the 5th on the Trip.

Aurora: Kate and Kitty are installed on this route now after hauling stuff up above the Bat Cave. Kate was out on lead when I left this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kate hooking along on the 7th of Aurora.

Mescalito: The Spanish team, Pep, Raul, and Joan did make the Bismarck ledge for the night and had the pitch above done when I arrived to shoot them. They had moved higher by the time I left. Two more days for this team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The whole crew at the top of the Bismarck!

Tribal Brian: Brian Sadowsky spent the night two below the top and fixed one of them. So this morning he packed up and climbed to the top on a spectacular California day. Nice job Brian… you have probably had enough of the Captain for a while!! Well done Bro!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian on the Bivy ledge two from the top.   Notice the Caver's ropes in the shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian topping out on ElCap!!

 

Tribal Mark: Mark was up and moving early today. No leisurely breakfast and late cup of Jo today. He climbed the rest of the Carrot and was hauling when I departed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark leading off the Carrot. Notice, how could you not, the huge features on this part of the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark hauling in the deep shade of afternoon.

 

The Line: The Cavers continue to hit the rope and we watched as several made the long slide down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rappin the Captain.

Nose: A fast NIAD was well on their way by the time I spotted them in the Grey Bands.  Turns out they are Jesse and Jake, our climbing rangers!  Word on the street is that they actually started three days ago but were so poorly dressed that they went unnoticed until today!!  Was it really a NIAD??  Inquiring minds want to know?  Just kidding.  The climbing rangers are the real deal!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Short fixed and waiting, above Camp 5, on the Nose.

Lower down a team of two climbed up the Legs and were above Dolt when I left. They were not hauling but sported a pretty hefty set of packs. Their pace is not that of a NIAD team but could do it with one, or perhaps two bivies.

The solo climber, Ben, was not visible today as he was either up in the high corners and thus out of my view or the lad jumped ship.  I later learned that he climbed off yesterday evening.  Good Job Ben!!!

Down below, in the dirty underbelly of ElCap, the masses swarmed at the start of the Stovelegs and soon the first bailers were downward bound. Hell....... I think they all bailed!!

Muir: The solo, Alex White, took a rest day at the start of the final dihedral. I only saw him outside his ledge one time in the morning. He may have climbed some later in the day.

The Brits, Colin and Davis who topped out yesterday came by the Bridge this morning… looking proud but tired! Nice climb for these guys on their first ElCap route!!

Shield: The team on the headwall, Javier and Pedro, crawled up the Triple Cracks today and had not even hauled by the time I left. Come on guys!!  Javier has been on the scene for a number of years and it is nice to get some shots of him and the Big Stone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early morning on the Shield.

There is another party who climbed to the Roof this afternoon. That lost highway worker, from yesterday’s report, is in the team!

Another party of two departed for the route today.

Pace Maker: Pete was out on lead today sporting a nice yellow shirt. I took some shots of the team but my angle is not good for this route so I have nothing special to post up.

Salathe/Freerider: Dave and Wagner climbed to and over the Headwall today. Off tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning on the Salathe Headwall.

Notice how some ones blue fixed line is right in their faces. Not good, not good at all. That rope should have been pulled to its anchor when that party was through for the day, so as not to lessen the experience of other climbers on the route.

Lower down the mixed team from yesterday, Duncan and Melissa, is proceeding along at a steady, if not fast, pace. They were a couple above the Spire when I left.

Below them Uli and Hondo were seen making a run up Freerider.

Below them a wall style team of three made steady progress past the Ear by early afternoon.

Out West: My spies report some action on Lurking Fear, and a solo fixing on Lost World. The rest? I don’t know.

In other news: Leo Houlding and buddy Paul showed up at the bridge this afternoon to check out Leo’s long standing project on the upper east side of the SE Face. They did some work on it yesterday. Now they are scoping it out to be sure they are not infringing on other routes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leo at the scope as Paul looks on.

The season continues with an expected cooling trend by the end of the week. So this just might to be the time to climb the Cap as the summer heat is not far away.

So that’s the way it is on ElCap for this the 7th day of June, 2010.

Later, Tom

 

Just so everyone knows this

Just so everyone knows this is Alex's last climb before he has to get a "real job" after just graduating from college. Congratulations and Condolences all in one. Have a good climb and take it all in ..... - Adam

Great job Brian on the top

Great job Brian on the top out on Tribal!

Awesome send........and Mark Hudon appears to be enjoying himself up there as well. Good job guys. Huge hello to Jesse, glad to see you are burning up the captain and not letting the day job get you down. Wish I could be there, but the El Cap Report is the next best thing! Thanks Tom.

Cheers,

Doug

Tom, Thanks for the pics.

Tom, Thanks for the pics. I've been following Marks progress from here in Hood River all week. The man is certainly a "diamond geezer" in my book, despite the yard sale he seems to be hauling with him. I trained with him a couple of times this spring, and despite being about 15 years his junior, I couldn't match him! Tough as nails! Great to see the pics, GO MARK GO! Guinness's to you, and a cold one at that. English Nick.

thank you from spain! it's a

thank you from spain!
it's a pleasure for me to follow the progress of my brother!
(sorry my english is dreadful)

Hey Tom! One of the parties

Hey Tom! One of the parties of two is the duo of Ben and Andrew. Heard they spent the night on the Towers. Looking forward to more of your reports. Thanks! Oh, yeah, hope they're dressed well...

I bet mark's beer is warm by

I bet mark's beer is warm by now

Go Justin! Sharpest dresser

Go Justin! Sharpest dresser on El Cap.

--W.

Great report

Great report Tom...Thanks!
Love the shot of Brian topping out!
Boy the river is wide! Nice eye candy at the bridge :)

The Princess of the El Cap Bridge

The fast team was your

The fast team was your climbing ranger pals Jake and I! Really not to fast compared to the real talent...13:10. I know our uniforms aren't photogenic, but hopefully you got a few good shots. See you tomorrow, Jesse
 
REPLY:   Oh yeah... I was wondering who those poorly dressed dorks were...  Hey... nice climb Bro!  I almost didn't shoot any of you guys as it is a real labor when the parties look so bad that I can hardly pick them out... !!!  How about sporting a yellow Yosar shirt next time?!!  Wait a minute.... didn't I see one of you guys in a red windbreaker at the corner of the great roof?! There is hope!!!  BTW did you see the solo, Ben, up there on your way by?
later Tom
 

Dude - look at the friggin'

Dude - look at the friggin' river!

Go Mark Go Houlding looks

Go Mark Go

Houlding looks like he just got off the jet from Hawaii great Stuff

Russ

Tom, thank you for the

Tom, thank you for the awesome pictures, especially the photo of Brian topping out. I can't wait to hear more about his climb. Great job and thanks for the daily updates.

Mary